In the same vein as the play itself, the “Tush Push” barrels forward. On Wednesday, NFL owners voted at the spring league meeting to keep the play made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles, rejecting a proposal put forward by the Green Bay Packers to ban it.
This had been one of the more contentiously debated rule changes throughout this offseason. Originally, the discussion was put forward at the annual meeting in Palm Beach back in early April, but was tabled for further discussion until this week. By all accounts, this was again one of the more heated talking points as owners gathered together this week in Minnesota, but did not garner enough support to push it (see what I did there?) out of the league.
That said, it came awfully close as owners voted 22-10 to ban the play, according to NFL Media. For the proposal to be approved, it needs to reach a two-thirds majority (at least 24 votes), so this was a razor-thin margin that the play snuck through, which is ironic considering we’re talking about a play that travels about a yard.
With the play officially safe for another year, let’s comb through a handful of winners and losers from this latest development.
Winner: Philadelphia Eagles
Duh. No team has enjoyed more success from this play than the Eagles. While every other club in the league is welcome to deploy the “Tush Push” themselves, none has been able to mirror the automatic nature of picking up the necessary yardage quite like Philadelphia.
Per CBS Sports Research, the Eagles have the most rushing attempts (92) and rushing touchdowns (eight) in the NFL on QB sneaks and the “Tush Push” since 2022 (including playoffs). They also have a conversion rate of 91.3%, which is the third highest in the NFL over that span, with loads more attempts. For reference, the NFL average over this stretch is 84.2%.
QB sneaks/’Tush Push’ conversion rate on third- or fourth-and-1 since 2022 (including playoffs)
Nothing about the last calendar year should put Saquon Barkley in a “loser” section, but it sort of applies here. While the Eagles star running back has come to the defense of the “Tush Push,” he would’ve been one of the main beneficiaries from a statistical standpoint had it been banned.
Last year, Barkley went bonkers, rushing for over 2,000 yards and registering 13 rushing touchdowns, which he turned into the 2024 Offensive Player of the Year award. But as stellar as last season was, it could’ve been even more prolific. As noted by Ian Hartitz of Fantasy Life, there were nine instances in 2024 where Barkley traveled to the 1-yard line only to not score a touchdown, which was a league high. That’s because Philadelphia routinely lines up in the “Tush Push” formation in such scenarios, which takes a scoring opportunity away from Barkley.
Conversely, this decision to keep the “Tush Push” means that Jalen Hurts will remain arguably the biggest goal-line threat in the NFL. During the 2024 regular season, 11 of Hurts’ 14 rushing touchdowns had a distance of 1 yard, meaning they came via the “Tush Push.” Last postseason, three of his five rushing touchdowns were from 1 yard out. Had the “Tush Push” gone away, it wouldn’t have entirely erased Hurts’ production inside the 5-yard line, but certainly would’ve put a dent into it.
Loser: Green Bay Packers and other NFL teams
Given that 22 teams wanted the “Tush Push” gone from the game, you have to put the bulk of the league in the loser bucket, right? After all, they’ll have to continue spending brain power and time during the week leading up to their matchup against Philadelphia on how to try and stop what feels like an unstoppable play. Top of that list is the Green Bay Packers, who brought the proposal forward. After the proposal was rejected, the Eagles’ social media team did an A+ troll job on X with this picture of Hurts set to deploy the “Tush Push” against Green Bay.
The 22-10 vote also draws a rather remarkable parallel to the Eagles defeating the Packers during Super Wild Card Weekend this postseason. The final score … 22-10.
Bonus loser: NFL officials
One of the more bizarre moments I can remember while covering the NFL came during the NFC Championship. In the fourth quarter with the Eagles at the 1-yard line, the Washington Commanders jumped offsides so often to try and get a jump on Philly’s pending “Tush Push” attempt that the officials announced that they may invoke a rare rule that could allow them to grant a score. That did not come to fruition, but the fact that it nearly did and the play remains in the league means that it could at some point down the road. Had the play been banned, it’d be one less thing for officials to be under the microscope for.
This news was originally published on this post .
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